Wet and Wild Weather

Well the weather in Oklahoma is true to the old saying "If you don't like it wait a while it will change" We have had sunny and warm, stormy and tornado and even hot. 

We are gearing up for combining season and that means lots of work. On a good year harvest last a week and everything is out without many repairs. On a bad year it rains in the middle and we wait for days or a week to get back in and hope the seed has not sprouted in the wheat head (then we can not sell it). Above is the 55 John Deere combine that my husband's grandfather custom cut with. We have used it for the last few years to cut wheat. We have been oiling barrings and other fine tuning for the wheat harvest.

With all this going on and helping with Jr. Camp for falls creek, my paint brushes have gotten a little dusty this week. Today I have already set out a few boards to get back in the saddle again. Will show the painting process and harvest soon.

Don't forget, Finishing a Day is on eBay. 

Click here for the link.

Do you give the horse its strength
    or clothe its neck with a flowing mane? Job 39:19

Painting the Landscape

Calves are dropping right now and that makes anyone I know smile. To see young life jump up and start to nurse. We had an extra joy this week though because we had twins! It is rare to have a pair of twins in cattle and when it happens the mother normally only can accept one. ( I understand it would be hard to keep up with two hyper babies.) This mamma appears to be handling her job well. The babies are both doing well. One is a heifer, girl, and the other is a bull.

Here is what I decided to try  my hand at this week It is a landscape of out mountain range with the wheat in front of it.

It took some layering to achieve the bright colors of an Oklahoma sunset.


When all is said and done I think it turned out well. It will start on Ebay next Tuesday. God Bless

 

This Painting will end on Ebay on Tuesday. Hope you win it.

Click here for the link to the Hay field in the Evening.

Storms and Tragedies

Luckily I was far enough south to miss the bad weather but many have lost everything or someone. My thought and prayers go out to them. For their recovery and rebuilding. I know Oklahoma and we are considered stubborn, and praying kind of folks. 

We did not stay out of all the action because my father-in-law caught this photo out his front door.  

Love the Lord, all his faithful people!
    The Lord preserves those who are true to him,
    but the proud he pays back in full.
²⁴ Be strong and take heart,
    all you who hope in the Lord. Psalms 31:23-24

Painting one Hay of a Day.

 Things are starting to grow and we are still working like crazy in the hay field. This morning we awoke to seeing a new calf out our window. My husbands old cow that he got in grade school had her calf this morning. It was barely dry and its legs were not very strong under it yet.

I started drawing another painting of an old John Deere that we use while we racked hay. Here is the beginning of the work.

As I worked I decided to push the time of day to dusk. I wanted to show the truth. Farming starts at sunrise and ends the next day at sunrise sometimes. This time of year is not different.

Here is the wash over the under painting on the tractor. Watercolor is transparent so you got to layer the color and value.

When all said and done Here is a Evening of Painting.

Don't Forget that Shriver's Store is still on eBay. Auction ends on Tuesday about 7 central time. 

Working in the Hay Feild

This weekend we worked on moving hay from the field to stacks. It was a perfect day. The clouds sat puffy like whipped cream in a sky that was bluer than any water I ever saw. The hay bales appeared to be the anchors that held the clouds in place. It was a perfect day which seemed to help my help sleep peacefully while we worked.

My husband loaded the 6 foot round bales into the 5 bale trailer and I would take them to an area to be stacked and stored for the winter months. As we picked up the bales, we released the anchor to a cloud. The clouds drifted and collided into small spring rain storms to the east of us. It was funny though because with some bales in the field some clouds hung around.

Here I am resetting the bale trailer.

I did finish up Shriver’s Store this weekend as well. It was a great weekend. Shriver’s store painting will go on sale tonight about 8.

Also don’t forget that The Waiting goes off eBay tonight. Good Luck and God Bless.

For riches are not forever,

Nor does a crown endure to all generations.

When the hay is removed, and the tender grass shows itself,

And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,

The lambs will provide your clothing,

And the goats the price of a field;

                        Proverbs 27:24-26

Just a Day at the Pump.

Well today I have been able to paint and take pictures. Last night we got some rain which is overly needed here.

I got a great deal done today and I will apologize for taking these in the wrong setting making them all yellow. I have went back to using a aquafix with ultramarine blue and crimson to make an outline. Here it shows my outline and the first start to my painting.

When I got into the groove of painting I forgot to slow down for pictures. Here I have added the tin roof. Wetting the front of the building I dropped yellow  ocher into it to give it an worn out look. I added madden brown and umber to added to the age.

Painting all the windows in you need to vary the color to make it look like glass. So I line one side with blue and then add water to the other making it pool and move. I took my time adding the lines in for the slates. Just enough you know they are there and not every line is needed.

Here I worked on the porch adding some ocher to warm up the under side and help unify the top of the building to the bottom. Also using Payne's gray helps to create the shadows form the porch. I also went ahead and added the grass to make it look unused. Leave some white showing to show highlights in the foliage.

DOn't forget the Waiting is on Ebay.

Painting the Filling Station

            My daughter asked me this morning why I had to leave and not play. I told her I had to earn money to pay for food, water, clothes and toys. She looked at me and said I can go naked I not need clothes.

       We did have a hard night trying to get hay rolled up before the rain came. Hay is one of those things that once in a bail or standing in the field it can handle a rain but cut down and laying out. Water washes some of the goodies away. It did lead to some awesome pictures and some well needed water.

     Well since farming came first, I did not get far on the filling station. Here is what I know, which isn't much. Back in the '50s communities were about 10 miles apart. They were small townships with gas station, one room school, and church. Some had more, some had less. They dried up during my parents generation but many of the buildings dot the Oklahoma landscape. Even if the buildings are not there the older generations still call them by the township name. Poker Flats, Oscar Store, Cox's Corner, Pumpkin Center, and so many more. This is Shriver's store, I know because I had to ask someone older than me. It sits on Highway 65, North of Highway 7 and 65 junction about 4 miles. It sits where the road curves. The building and the fixing station, a church, a volunteer fire department is still there.

DOn't forget the Waiting is on Ebay.

Painting a Case Tractor and Barn

            With a pretty Saturday on track I convinced my mom for us to go picture taking. Grandma wanted out of the house so we made this a foursome with my little girl. With cameras in hand we spent a few hours in the wildlife refuge a few miles from home. On the way home we took a different route.

           

        As Mom drove the back road we scouted for awesome pictures. Then I saw this barn. It was just amazing sitting on top of a hill behind a farm house. As I opened my mouth to ask mom to stop, her Exploder, as we lovingly call it, (explorer) exploded. Stranded until dad could get out of the field to rescue us, I wandered across the road into the bar ditch and took the picture from about a mile away. The barn just called to be painted. Standing on the hill it looked as if the years could just paint a story for me.

            A week or so later as I went to my husband’s farm this Case set on the hill, like a tractor that owned the world. It had the atmosphere, of here I am, now paint me.

             I combined the two images to make a painting that I thought would talk. I reworked the lighting so that they would work together.

            When I started painting I got so caught up in the process that I did not stop till I was done. It was one of those days I just painted my day away. I really wish I would have remembered to show you how I did it. Yet, life goes on. Here she is,

The Waiting on eBay.

"Honor the Lord with your wealth,
    with the first fruits of all your crops;

¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing,

nd your vats will brim over with new wine." Proverbs  3:9-10

SHHHH! I am Hunting for the Next Painting

I do not know about you but there are days I pull myself away from a canvas and then go "Now what?" What is the next artwork I will create? It is hard to keep the creatyivity going in some ways. So I have a few tips to help you to keep running into that image.

1. Carry a Camera

 All the time. Sometimes I remember to take my camera before I remember my kid. (Hey at least she can remind me to help her in the car) I am teasing. I also carry a fisher price camera for her so we can take pictures together. At three she not always get great pictures but has a blast taking pictures like Mommy. The camera is a document of what you see daily. It never fails I will go a week without one picture and then on one day I will take thirty images.

2. Take a Different Route

My dad started this in me when I was small. We went from our house in town to the farm 30 miles away. Many times he would say “Lets see what’s down here” and turn a corner. He knew those back roads in his sleep but I would be fearful of getting lost. He said “If you know which way is west than you can find the farm.”

I learned to find a different view you find a different road. Yes I have been down lots of dead ends and had to turn around but I always made it home without GPS. (but sometimes I did call for directions)

3. Zoom in

How many artists do not have an arsenal of photographs? I mean if photographs were rain than I would have an ocean. When I need a new artwork sometimes I just go through my pictures and play with the zoom. I find artwork I did not realize was there.

Hope this helps you out of a rut. I have just finished Greener on the Other side. I am now working a Case tractor.

Check out Greener on the Other Side on eBay.